Page 52 - Collected_Works_of_Poe.pdf

of great worth. We estimated the entire contents of the chest, that night, at a million and a half of dollars; and
upon the subsequent disposal of the trinkets and jewels (a few being retained for our own
use), it was found that we had greatly undervalued the treasure. When, at length, we had concluded our
examination, and the intense excitement of the time had, in some measure, subsided, Legrand, who saw that I
was dying with impatience for a solution of this most extraordinary riddle, entered into a full detail of all the
circumstances connected with it.

"You remember;" said he, "the night when I handed you the rough sketch I had made of the scarabsus. You
recollect also, that I became quite vexed at you for insisting that my drawing resembled a death's-head. When
you first made this assertion I thought you were jesting; but afterwards I called to mind the peculiar spots on
the back of the insect, and admitted to myself that your remark had some little foundation in fact. Still, the
sneer at my graphic powers irritated me - for I am considered a good artist - and, therefore, when you handed
me the scrap of parchment, I was about to crumple it up and throw it angrily into the fire."

"The scrap of paper, you mean," said I.

"No; it had much of the appearance of paper, and at first I supposed it to be such, but when I came to draw
upon it, I discovered it, at once, to be a piece of very thin parchment. It was quite dirty, you remember. Well,
as I was in the very act of crumpling it up, my glance fell upon the sketch at which you had been looking, and
you may imagine my astonishment when I perceived, in fact, the figure of a death's-head just where, it seemed
to me, I had made the drawing of the beetle. For a moment I was too much amazed to think with accuracy. I
knew that my design was very different in detail from this - although there was a certain similarity in general
outline. Presently I took a candle, and seating myself at the other end of the room, proceeded to scrutinize the
parchment more closely. Upon turning it over, I saw my own sketch upon the reverse, just as I had made it.
My first idea, now, was mere surprise at the really remarkable similarity of outline - at the singular
coincidence involved in the fact, that unknown to me, there should have been a skull upon the other side of the
parchment, immediately beneath my figure of the scarabsus, and that this skull, not only in outline, but in
size, should so closely resemble my drawing. I say
the singularity of this coincidence absolutely stupified me for a time. This is the usual effect of such
coincidences. The mind struggles to establish a connexion - a sequence of cause and effect - and, being unable
to do so, suffers a species of temporary paralysis. But, when I recovered from this stupor, there dawned upon
me gradually a conviction which startled me even far more than the coincidence. I began distinctly, positively,
to remember that there had been no drawing upon the parchment when I made my sketch of the scarabsus. I
became perfectly certain of this; for I recollected turning up first one side and then the other, in search of the
cleanest spot. Had the skull been then there, of course I could not have failed to notice it. Here was indeed a
mystery which I felt it impossible to explain; but, even at that early moment, there seemed to glimmer, faintly,
within the most remote and secret chambers of my intellect, a glow-worm-like conception of that truth which
last night's adventure brought to so magnificent a demonstration. I arose at once, and putting the parchment
securely away, dismissed all farther reflection until I should be alone.

"When you had gone, and when Jupiter was fast asleep, I betook myself to a more methodical investigation of
the affair. In the first place I considered the manner in which the parchment had come into my possession. The
spot where we discovered the scarabaeus was on the coast of the main land, about a mile eastward of the
island, and but a short distance above high water mark. Upon my taking hold of it, it gave me a sharp bite,
which caused me to let it drop. Jupiter, with his accustomed caution, before seizing the insect, which had
flown towards him, looked about him for a leaf, or something of that nature, by which to take hold of it. It was
at this moment that his eyes, and mine also, fell upon the scrap of parchment, which I then supposed to be
paper. It was lying half buried in the sand, a corner sticking up. Near the spot where we found it, I observed
the remnants of the hull of what appeared to have been a ship's long boat. The wreck seemed to have been
there for a very great while; for the resemblance to boat timbers could scarcely be traced.

"Well, Jupiter picked up the parchment, wrapped the beetle in it, and gave it to me. Soon afterwards we turned